Did you think cous cous was a grain?

[Yourethebeerthief]

Colleague eating one of those mug shot packets at work (in boiling water not straight from the packet!)

I am mad for cous cous and suggested it as a similarly easy option, especially if you bring a salad with some chicken/tuna/feta to add to it. She didn't realise that cous cous just needed boiling water added and thought you had to cook it on a hob. She also thought it was a grain rather than a pasta.

I asked around and about half the people I've asked also thought it was a grain.

Maybe it doesn't feature as much in other people's diets so they didn't realise, but I'm honestly mad for it and think it's superior to other pasta. I eat it about 2 or 3 times a week in different ways as I love how simple it is. But I'd also happily eat it plain with a knob of butter and a little garlic 🤤

I remember the first time I ever encountered cous cous, on a school trip to France in 1993. The hostel we were staying in served cereal bowls full of hot chocolate for breakfast, with baguette, and huge platters mounded with cous cous for dinner. We were country bumpkins and had no idea what the hell it was.

I see

God knows why anyone would treat a grain (if thats what they thought it was) as a high protein.

It also annoys me when people go on about lentils and legumes/pulses etc as being 'high in protein'

Yes they do have some protein in them but they are predominately carbohydrate

I knew it's made from the same wheat as pasta but I never considered it a pasta.

I like pasta. I don't like couscous.

This sounds like my dream!

So couscous is semolina and bubble tea is tapioca. How is sago going to be repackaged?

Every day is a school day.

I also learned today that Taylor Swift's Eras tour is the plural of 'era' and not my mistaken Greek God of love (which I now realise is Eros).

Anyway.

I don’t care what it is - you can keep it.

I thanked you. But quinoa is a seed which means I digest it better. But farro is rather lush.

In Africa, where it originates, they use it interchangeably with grains in recipes which is where the confusion probably comes from.

No.

I never knew or gave much thought to what it was. I just thought it was moist bits of...bitty stuff. So it's pasta? How weird.

Hooray! More for me!

I knew it was semolina as I've seen Palestinians making it from scratch. They serve it piping hot. The stuff you get here from packets or even in the salad pots will never compare. OP I advise you to seek out a Palestinian and ask them to make it for you! They call it 'maftoul'.

Now on my bucket list to try this ❤️

Really sorry OP, your love of cous cous shines through, and may you enjoy it forever…but the stuff is the Devil’s winnets.

I KNOW!

I never knew it was pasta either, that has really surprised me. It is my 11 year old ds’s fav food and has been since he was small. Dh isn’t so sure about it so the two of us have when dh is out as our special thing and it is so comforting. We have it with all the bits we have in the fridge so we cook up chopped up pepper, courgette, tomatoes, little bits of broccoli, red onion and garlic etc and some chopped up bacon and then top it with cubes of feta cheese, yummy.
I love freekah too but it’s no way as convenient as cous cous, love have quick cous cous is to cook.

It's semolina. I wouldn't choose to eat it.

Quinoa is so much healthier than other grains/pasta.

I use it with any dishes where rice, couscous or pasta would normally be served.

Excellent substitute for burghul as well. These days I always use Quinoa for tabbouleh.

No, this has started off my (legume) nervous twitch again

lentils and chickpeas are not proteins, they are carbohydrates which have some protein in them more than potatoes or other veg.

Yes, comforting is definitely the word. I love that you and your son have special cous cous nights.

What do you mean interchangeably?

Its a carb, grains are a carb, so it would be used just like we use it, you could have rice with a dish, or couscous with a dish (or bulgar, or pasta)

I honestly can't get excited about such a mundane food. It's okay, I'll happily eat it. But I don't think I've ever said 'yum' or 'this is pleasant' whilst doing so.

Now this I knew because I saw a thread on here from someone going to a Taylor swift concert and trying to decide what “era” her outfit should be from. The penny dropped.